Background: Trauma co-management is a growing field within hospital medicine. While improvements in quality metrics have been documented in other co-management services, the impact of co-management of trauma patients is uncertain. This study aimed to determine whether a hospitalist trauma co-management program improves clinical outcomes. Methods: This was a pre- and post-implementation study comparing trauma […]

Background: Sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock remain important contributors to hospital utilization, morbidity and mortality in the United States. Timely interventions including blood cultures, intravenous crystalloid infusions, and antibiotics make up the 3-hour sepsis bundle which represents current standard of practice, and the target of hospital quality reporting. Many aspects of sepsis care are […]

Background: Sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock remain important contributors to hospital utilization, morbidity and mortality in the United States. Timely interventions including blood cultures, intravenous crystalloid infusions, and antibiotics make up the 3-hour sepsis bundle which represents current standard of practice, and the target of hospital quality reporting. Many aspects of sepsis care are […]

Background: Little is known about how to effectively train residents with point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) despite increasing usage. This study sought to assess whether handheld ultrasound devices (HUDs), alongside a year-long lecture series, improved trainee image interpretation skills with POCUS. Methods: Internal medicine intern physicians (n=149) at a single academic institution from 2016-18 participated in the […]

Background: Despite recommendations for mobility, older inpatients often stay in bed, increasing the risk for functional decline after discharge. Although studies show poor sleep is associated with lowered daytime physical activity in community‐dwelling adults, no study has examined this association in hospitalized adults who suffer acute sleep loss from a variety of disruptions. The aim […]

Background: Academic children’s hospitals are increasingly partnering with community hospitals to provide inpatient neonatal and pediatric care in the patient’s own community. Although some academic hospitals are hesitant to form these partnerships due to concern for decreasing incoming transfers, few studies report the true effect of such collaboration. Our strategy involved such a partnership that […]

Background: In response to the 2003 ACGME guidelines restricting resident duty hours and the 2008 Institute of Medicine report recommending increased attending‐level supervision of house staff, many residency programs substituted hospitalist‐supervised night‐float rotations for traditional overnight call shifts. There remains a paucity of data exploring resident and hospitalist attitudes toward education during night shifts. Methods: […]

Background: Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation is a commonly utilized procedure used for patients with chronic liver disease and resistant portal hypertension. Previous studies have explored the trends and short-term outcomes in TIPS procedures. This study aims to further compare short-term in-hospital outcomes of patients with chronic kidney disease when undergoing TIPS. Methods: This […]

Background: There are various reasons why physicians order laboratory tests. In teaching institutions and academic centers, residents often order many unnecessary tests for patients. Earlier studies have shown that in many cases test‐ordering behavior lacks efficiency, resulting in excessive laboratory utilization. Throughout the years various attempts have been made to improve this situation with mostly […]

Background: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) is an important risk factor for thromboembolic complications. We hypothesized that using an implantable loop recorder (ILR) may help for identification of occult AF in patients with cryptogenic stroke. Methods: We report the early results from a prospective study that monitors patients with cryptogenic stroke/TIA for 2 years after loop […]